The Virtual Interactive Educational World for HR Professionals Successfully Launched on December 12-13th, 2007

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The Virtual Interactive Educational World for HR Professionals Successfully Launched on December 12-13th, 2007

I really enjoyed being able to browse the vendor booths in the expo hall, and the feel of actually being at a conference was great (sounds, looks, offerings, etc.)

Aurora, Canada (PRWEB)January 4, 2008

HR.com (http://www.hr.com) has successfully launched the first virtual and online conference designed for HR professionals, including specialists in Benefits, Sourcing, HRO, Compensation, Incentives, Training, Consumer-Directed Healthcare and Staffing. Attendance was complimentary for all HR Professionals (practitioners of HR).

The first event in December was designed to launch the idea to HR Professionals and to encourage HR vendors to participate.

Over 2,250 attendees participated and there were 80 exhibitors with booths in the virtual expo. Among the booths there were 48,142 booth visits and communication interactions, including chats, Vcard, and email exchanges. Leads per booth ranged from 267 to 715, with exhibitors getting an average of 426 leads each. Fifty-two percent of show attendees were Managers, VPs, Presidents, CEOs, or Directors. There were 67 industry luminaries speaking at 53 educational presentations and workshops broadcast over the two days, with 1,183 people educated. Nine tracks that encompassed the entire HR community were well covered.

Comments from attendees included:

"This has been one of the best uses of time for the information gathered that I have ever done. I appreciate the ability to stay at my desk and learn a ton of stuff. I was also able to jump in and out of sessions as needed."

"Thanks for all you have created. The technology for this conference was A+."

"Keep up the good work...." said Greg Frueh, Standard Register

"I really enjoyed being able to browse the vendor booths in the expo hall, and the feel of actually being at a conference was great (sounds, looks, offerings, etc.)," said Amy Schuller, BB&T Employment.

Exhibitors were able to design their own booths, staff them, and provide information to attendees on their firm's products and services. Attendees were able to initiate chats with booth staff and engage in conversation, ask questions, and arrange times to meet after the show. Attendees and exhibitors alike could exchange business cards or send emails.

Exhibitor comments included:

"We got some leads that turned into meetings."

"It was very easy to set-up and be online manning the booth."

"I think the workshop was the best thing for us."

"Being able to staff the booth while doing my other work at the same time. Being at my computer made it easy to reach out to co-workers to speak with attendees, versus not having them available due to travel."

Debbie McGrath, CEO of HR.com, says, "The debrief meetings conducted by our sales staff have proved to us that this model is very attractive to vendors. The response has been extremely positive, with many telling us they found the show easy to work and enjoyed the convenience of working a show from their office. The traffic through the show was very good (especially for a first-time feature) and attendees' feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many people already asking about VIEW events in 2008. For many executives, their scarcest resource is time, so the idea of attending a full conference and expo from their office is extremely favorable."

"Among the speakers at the December event were Carly Fiorina, Keith Ferrazzi, Marcus Buckingham, and Kenny Moore. We were fortunate to be able to offer the HR community some of the best talent in the HR space. Doing this helped us to launch this new concept to the HR.com community and the HR community globally. Our attendees were able to network effectively throughout the show and our speakers were able to impart their knowledge and get the word out to several thousand HR executives. It was truly a phenomenal launch."

"As a first event, we know there are some areas that we can improve on and we are presently working very hard to pull in some new features and streamlined areas for our shows in 2008."

There are 43 VIEW conferences scheduled in 2008. Each will run for one day and will look in-depth at a select topic. Topics include Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Integrated Talent Management, Pay for Performance, and Quality of Hire. For a complete schedule, go to: http://www.hr.com/view and click on 2008 Schedule.

About HR.com:
HR.com is the largest online community and social network of HR professionals in the world. VIEW was developed to meet the needs of the more than 69% of HR.com’s 150,000+ members who said they wanted the "in person" event experience available to them online. These online, or "virtual" conferences, can offer attendees all of the education, the networking, and the vendor information they would get from an in-person conference, without the travel, expense, and time commitment. The VIEW conference is free for all HR Professionals. To register or to get additional information, go to: http://www.hr.com/virtual.